Methods and systems for edge application server (EAS) group management

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. Accordingly, the embodiments herein provide a method performed by a management service (MnS) consumer. The method includes determining to use edge application server (EAS) bundle functionality. The method includes transmitting, to an MnS producer, a request for a retrieval of attribute information associated with a managed object instance (MOI), to read an EAS bundle MOI. The method includes determining to use an existing bundle or create a new bundle, based on the EAS bundle MOI.

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR EDGE APPLICATION SERVER (EAS) GROUP MANAGEMENT

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to edge computing systems, and more particularly to management of grouping or bundling of Edge Application Servers (EASs) in an edge computing system.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in "Sub 6GHz" bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in "Above 6GHz" bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

[0003] At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

[0004] Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

[0005] Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

[0006] As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

[0007] Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

[0008] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

[0009] In an embodiment, a method of managing an application function instance in an edge computing network is disclosed. The method comprises the step of sending, by a provisioning MnS consumer, a request to obtain information of available application bundles instances, to a provisioning MnS producer, for grouping an application function instance in an application bundle instance. Based on a response from the provisioning MnS producer, the method further comprises the step of detecting one or more application bundle instances for grouping the application function instance. The method further comprises the step of determining whether the application function instance is compatible for grouping with the one or more detected application bundle instances, based on one or more attributes of the application function instance and one or more attributes of the detected one or more application bundle instances. Based on the determination, the method further comprises the step of performing one of: update at least one detected application bundle instance, and create a new application bundle instance, for managing the application function instance. The one or more attributes associated with the application function instance comprises at least a bundle information attribute, indicating whether the application function instance is allowed for grouping in an application bundle instance.

[0010] In an embodiment, a system for managing an application function instance in an edge computing network is disclosed. The system comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to send a request to obtain information of available application bundles instances, to a provisioning MnS producer, for grouping an application function instance in an application bundle instance. Based on a response from the provisioning MnS producer, the processor is further configured to detect one or more application bundle instances for grouping the application function instance. The processor is further configured to determine whether the application function instance is compatible for grouping with the one or more detected application bundle instances, based on one or more attributes of the application function instance and one or more attributes of the detected one or more application bundle instances. The processor is further configured to perform one of: updating at least one detected application bundle instance, and creating a new application bundle instance, for managing the application function instance, based on the determination. The one or more attributes associated with the application function instance comprises at least a bundle information attribute, indicating whether the application function instance is allowed for grouping in an application bundle instance.

[0011] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference features and components. Some embodiments of at least one of devices and methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

[0012] Figure 1 depicts an overview of an edge computing system 100.

[0013] Figure 2 illustrates a reference point representation of an architecture 200 of an application layer of an edge computing system.

[0014] Figure 3A illustrates an architecture 300A of a management layer of an edge computing system.

[0015] Figure 3B depicts a block diagram 300B of an Application Service Provider, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 3C depicts a block diagram 300C of an Edge Computing Service Provider (ECSP) Management System, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 4 illustrates an edge Network Resource Model (NRM) fragment 400, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 5 depicts a sequence flow diagram 500 for bundling an application function instance, in accordance with a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 6 depicts a sequence flow diagram 600 for bundling an application function instance, in accordance with a second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 7 depicts a sequence flow diagram 700 for bundling an application function instance, in accordance with a third embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 8 illustrates a method 800 for managing an application function instance, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 9 depicts an exemplary computer system 900 for implementing one or more systems according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

[0024] In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

[0025] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the spirit and the scope of the disclosure.

[0026] The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device, or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a device or system or apparatus proceeded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the device, system, or apparatus.

[0027] In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

[0028] Edge computing enables operators and third-party services to be hosted close to a User Equipment (UE)'s access point of attachment. The edge computing services are provided by Edge Computing Service Providers (ECSPs), Application Service Providers (ASPs), and Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) operators, where ASP is responsible for the creation of Edge Application Servers (EAS) and application clients (AC), ECSP is responsible for the deployment of Edge Data Networks (EDN) that contain Edge Application Server (EAS) and Edge Enabling Servers (EES), and PLMN operator is responsible for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) network functions, such as 5G-Core (5G Core) and 5G-New Radio (5G-NR).

[0029] The network architecture of edge computing enables cloud computing capabilities and service environments, which are deployed close to the UE. It provides several benefits such as lower latency, higher bandwidth, reduced backhaul traffic and prospects for new services compared to the cloud environments.

[0030] Reference is made to the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 28.538, TS 23.558, TS 28.532, and Technical Report (TR) 21.905.

[0031] While application layer (of edge computing network) EAS bundle functionality has been developed and defined by the 3GPP Technical Specification Group Service and Systems Aspect Working Group 6, the same need to be supported by the ECSP management system (ECMS) in order to have an end-to-end workable functionality. The management provisions as defined presently do not support management of EASs, through EAS bundle functionality.

[0032] The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the disclosure and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

[0033] In an embodiment, procedure for EAS bundle adoption is disclosed. The EAS bundle adoption comprises the following steps:

[0034] Step 1: the ASP decides to use EAS bundle functionality due to internal policies. The ASP uses the EAS bundle functionality to determine the available EAS bundles.

[0035] Step 2: The ASP sends getMOIAttributes request to ECMS (ECSP Management System) in order to read the available EASBundle MOI.

[0036] Step 3: The ECMS sends a response with information related to all the available EAS bundle.

[0037] Step 4: The ASP decides whether the EAS should be part of any or some of the bundle. The ASP may decide that a particular EAS shall never be part of any of the bundle or it can be part of some of the available bundle only.

[0038] Step 5: EAS deployment process continues as defined in 3GPP TS 28.538.

[0039] Step 6: The ASP then sends modifyMOIAttribute request for EASFunction MOI to update the value of the attribute BundleInfo.

[0040] Step 7: The ECMS sends the response.

[0041] In an embodiment, procedure for procedure for EAS bundle management is disclosed. The EAS bundle adoption comprises the following steps:

[0042] Step 1: The ASP decides to use EAS bundle functionality due to internal policies. The ASP uses the EAS bundle functionality to determine the available EAS bundles.

[0043] Step 2: The ASP sends getMOIAttributes request to ECMS (ECSP Management System) in order to read the available EASBundle MOI.

[0044] Step 3: The ECMS sends a response with information related to all the available EAS bundle.

[0045] Step 4: Based on the available EAS bundle, The ASP may either decide to use an existing bundle or create a new bundle.

[0046] Step 5: The creation of the new bundle starts with creating the constituents EAS. The ASP sends createMOI request for EASRequirements IOC

[0047] Step 6: The ECMS initiates the EAS deployment process as defines in 3GPP TS 28.538

[0048] Step 7: The ECMS provides the successful creation notification to ASP. Steps 4, 5 and 6 will be performed in loop for each constituent EAS.

[0049] Step 8: The ASP sends a createMOI request for EASBundle IOC. This request will include DNs of all the EAS instantiated, as part of step 4, 5 and 6, as value for attribute eASFunctionRef.

[0050] Step 9: The ECMS instantiates the bundle by instantiating the EASBundle IOC.

[0051] Step 10: The ECMS will send a response.

[0052] Step 11: In step 4, if ASP decides to use an existing bundle, it may still send createMOI request for EASRequirements IOC to instantiate new EAS that should be bundle in the EASBundle.

[0053] Step 12: The ECMS initiate the EAS deployment process as defines in 3GPP TS 28.538

[0054] Step 13: The ECMS provides the successful creation notification to ASP.

[0055] Step 14: The ASP can also send modifyMOIAttributes for EASBundle IOC in order to update the existing bundle. This update may include updating any of the attribute of EASBundle IOC.

[0056] Step 15: The ECMS execute the update and send a response.

[0057] An EAS Bundle Instance Object Class (IOC) is described. This class represents an EAS bundle and contains the following attributes:

[0058] Attribute nameisWritableDescriptionPropertiesbundleIdentifierFIdentifier of the bundle.type: Stringmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsebundledEASIdentifierTList of EAS identifier associated with the EAS bundle.type: Stringmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsebundleTypeTType of the EAS bundle.type: Stringmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsemainEASIdentifierTIndicate which EAS in a bundle takes the main EAS service role.type: Stringmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsecoordinatedEASDiscoveryTIndicates if coordinated EAS discovery is required i.e., if EAS discovery request for one of the bundled EAS is processed, then EAS discovery response should include information of all the EASs belonging to the bundle.type:Booleanmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: FalseisNullable: FalsecoordinatedACRTIndicates if coordinated ACR is required i.e., if EAS ACR is initiated for one of the bundled EAS, then ACR should be initiated for all the EASs belonging to the bundle.The IE may further indicate what actions must be taken if ACR for one or more bundled EAS fails e.g. ACR for all other EAS that are part of the bundle must be cancelled or not.type: Booleanmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeDNAffinityTIndicates the affinity requirement of the EAS bundle. The IE can be set to "strong" indicating that the EASs must be in the same EDN, "preferred" indicating that it is nice to have EASs in the same EDN but not essential or "weak" indicating that it's not essential for EASs to be in the same EDN.Allowed Values: "STRONG", "WEAK", "PREFERRED"type: ENUMmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeASFunctionRefFThis indicates the constituent EAS of the EAS bundle.type: DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeESFunctionRefFThis indicate the related EES with the EAS bundle.type: DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeASRequirementsRefTThis indicate the requirements for each constituent EAS in the bundle.type: DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: False

[0059] The EASFunciton IOC will be updated to include the following attributes:

[0060] Attribute nameisWritableDescriptionPropertieseASBundleInfoTThis defines the bundle relation information for the EASN.A> isBundlingAllowedTThis defines whether the EAS should be put in a bundle. The FALSE value indicate that this EAS shall not be part of any bundle.type:Booleanmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue:TrueisNullable: False> allowedBundelTThis defines the EAS bundles where this EAS can be placed. This will only be present if the value of attribute isBundlingAllowed is TRUE.type:DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeASBundleRefFThis indicates the EAS bundles in which the EAS is included.type:DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: False

[0061] The EESFunciton IOC will be updated to include the following attributes

[0062] Attribute nameisWritableDescriptionPropertieseASBundleRefFThis indicates the related EAS bundles with the EES.type: DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: False

[0063] The present disclosure allows grouping of several EAS, providing different services, to form a new service. The present disclosure also enables re-use of existing services avoiding deployment of duplicate services in the edge network. The present disclosure enables providing a typical application client communicating with multiple servers (i.e. multiple EASs.) to provide better service to the end user. For example, consider an online game where to support large number of users, different game functions are split across multiple servers; e.g a) a game engine for game state and user input management, b) an in-game chat server for communication between players and c) a capture server for capturing rendered images, encoding, and transporting them to the player's device. If each of these EASs are discovered, controlled, and relocated individually, it may impact the overall quality of service.

[0064] Figure 1 depicts an overview of an edge computing system 100. The edge computing system 100 comprises an application layer 102, which is a consumer of one or more edge computing capabilities. The one or more edge computing capabilities include: an edge enabler layer 104, an edge hosting environment 106, a core transport layer 108, and an edge management layer 110. The application layer 102 and its architecture is described in detail in conjunction with Figure 2.

[0065] For edge computing, it is essential that Application Clients (AC) are able to locate and connect with a most suitable Edge Application Server (EAS) available in an edge computing network, and more specifically in an Edge Data Network (EDN), depending on the needs of the application. The Edge Enabler Layer (EEL) 104 exposes Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to support such capabilities of the edge computing system 100. Various services provided by the edge computing system 100 are enabled through such APIs.

[0066] The EEL 104 enables ACs in a User Equipment (UE) to discover the most suitable Edge Application Server (EAS) located in the Edge Data Network (EDN), as part of its service provisioning procedures. The procedure takes the UE's location, service requirements, service preferences and connectivity information into account, in order to provide the required configuration to the UE, to connect to the application layer 102. The EEL 104 further facilitates registration of various entities, such as UEs and application servers, by publishing information about such entity to other entities of the EEL 104. The EEL 104 also allows EAS discovery procedures to enable the UE to obtain information about suitable EASs in the EDN.

[0067] The EEL 104 further supports an EAS to expose its Service APIs (i.e., EAS Service APIs) towards the other EASs to support publish and discovery of available EAS Service APIs. Additionally, the EEL 104 may interact with an Edge Computing Service Provider (ECSP) Management System (ECMS) to trigger an instantiation of a suitable EAS as per the needs of an application.

[0068] The edge hosting environment 106 utilizes a distributed network of servers located at the edge of the network. i.e., close to the UE, to reduce latency and backhaul traffic, and provide higher bandwidth. This allows leveraging of content delivery networks to cache content (like images, videos, and web pages) on these servers. When a user requests content, it is delivered from the nearest server, rather than the original server.

[0069] The core transport layer 108, as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is responsible for carrying the traffic generated by applications and services on the network. The core transport layer 108 establishes and maintains connections between the communicating endpoints, such as the UE and an application server. The core transport layer allows multiplexing and demultiplexing, flow control, and congestion control, and is compatible with the third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G) and 5G networks.

[0070] The edge management layer 110 is responsible for the overall management of the edge computing system 100, including the core transport layer 108, the EEL 104, and the applications running at the edge (in the application layer 102). The edge management layer is described in further detail in conjunction with Figure 3A.

[0071] Capability Exposure Functions

[0072] Figure 2 illustrates a reference point representation of an architecture 200 of the application layer 102, for enabling edge applications in an edge computing system 100. The architecture includes a UE 202 communicating with an EDN 222, in relation to a core network 212. The EDN 222 is a local data network, hosted at the "edge" of the network, i.e., closer to the device (UE 202), as described in this document. In an embodiment, the EDN 222 may be considered as part of a larger edge computing network. The EDN 222 may be hosted on the device or a local server, which processes the data generated by the device. The EDN 222 includes EASs 224 and Edge Enabler Servers (EES) 226. A further Edge Configuration Server (ECS) 228 provides configuration related to the EES 226, including details of the EDN 222 hosting the EES 226. The UE 202 includes ACs 204 and Edge Enabler Clients (EEC) 206. The ECS 228, EES 226 and EAS 224 act as authorized API invokers, to consume services from the API entities of the core network.

[0073] The functionalities of various entities of the architecture 200 mentioned above are explained below:

[0074] a. Edge Enabler Server (EES) 226:The EES 226 provides supporting functions needed for EASs 224 and EEC 206. The various functionalities of EES 226 include: provisioning of configuration information to EEC 206, enabling exchange of application data traffic with the EAS 224; providing API invoker and API exposing functions; interacting with the Core Network 212 for accessing the capabilities of network functions either directly or indirectly; exposing events related to ACT; EEC context transfer between EESs; supporting external exposure of 3GPP network and service capabilities to the EAS(s); registration functions (i.e., registration, update, and de-registration) for the EEC(s) and the EAS(s); triggering the EAS instantiation on demand; supporting Application Context Relocation (ACR) related operations (e.g. ACR launching, ACR information notification, EELManagedACR); and supporting the security related functions (e.g. authentication, authorization, acting as consent enforcing entity).

[0075] b. Edge Enabler Client (EEC) 206:The EEC 206 provides supporting functions needed for AC(s) 204. Functionalities of EEC 206 include: retrieval of configuration information to enable the exchange of Application Data Traffic 214 with the EAS 224; discovery of EASs 224 available in the EDN 222; detecting UE 202 mobility events; exposure of events relevant to the AC 204; retrieval of UE identification and / or Edge UE identification; and ACR Detection and ACR Initiation.

[0076] c. Edge Configuration Server (ECS) 228:The ECS 228 provides supporting functions needed for the EEC 206 to connect with an EES 226. Functionalities of the ECS 228 include:

[0077] i. provisioning of edge configuration information to the EEC 206. The edge configuration information includes: the information required by the EEC 206 to distinguish amongst the EESs 226 (e.g. EDN service area); and the information required for establishing a connection with EESs 226 (such as URI);

[0078] ii. providing Trusted-EES information to Secured-EES. The ECS can be deployed in the Management and Orchestration (MNO) domain (further explained in conjunction with Figure 3A below) or can be deployed in 3rd party domain by service provider.

[0079] iii. supporting the functionalities of registration (i.e., registration, update, and de-registration) for the EES(s) 226;

[0080] iv. supporting the functionalities of API invoker and API exposing functions;

[0081] v. interacting with the Core Network 212 for accessing the capabilities of network functions either directly or indirectly;

[0082] vi. providing service provisioning information to a partner ECS 228; and

[0083] vii. retrieving service provisioning information from a partner ECS 228.

[0084] If the ECSP is required to support service provisioning for a certain EAS 224 whose information is not available, the ECS 228 may use one or more edge repository functions to support ECS 228 discovery.

[0085] d. Application Client (AC) 204:The AC 204 is the application resident in the UE 202 performing one or more client function. Depending on one or more aspects of ACR implementation by the EEC 206, the AC 204 may be required to determine whether to initiate ACR.

[0086] e. Edge Application Server (EAS) 224:The EAS 224 is the application server resident in the EDN 222, performing the server functions. The AC 204 connects to the EAS 224 in order to avail the services of the application through the edge computing system 100. In an embodiment, the server functions of an application (EAS function IOC described in conjunction with figure 4 below) may only be available as an EAS 224. In another embodiment, certain server functions of the application may be available both at the edge and in the cloud, e.g., as an EAS 224 in the EDN 222 and an Application Server resident in the cloud server respectively. In an embodiment, the server functions offered by an EAS 224 and its counterpart cloud Application Server may be the same or different. In an embodiment, if they differ, the Application Data Traffic 214 exchanged with the AC 204 may also be different.

[0087] The EAS 224 utilizes the core network 212 in the one or more of the following ways:

[0088] i. invoking core network capabilities via the EEL 104, through the EES 226;

[0089] ii. invoking core network function APIs directly, based on one or more predefined factors; and

[0090] iii. invoking core network capabilities through capability exposure functions as described in forthcoming paragraphs.

[0091] In an embodiment, an EAS 224 can expose its service API(s), such as EAS Service API(s), towards the other EASs 224 by supporting API provider domain functions. In another embodiment, an EAS 224 can utilize EAS Service API(s) exposed by the other EAS(s) 224, by utilizing API invoker functionalities.

[0092] In addition to the entities described above, the UE 202 further includes a notification management client 210, which acts as the application's (i.e., the AC's 204) interface for receiving and handling notifications from the EAS 224. The notification management client 210 interacts with a notification management server 230 in the EEL 104, typically via a defined reference point, to receive messages and then delivers them to the relevant application components within the UE 202.

[0093] In the edge computing system 100, the capability of the system 100 is exposed through the capabilities of the core network 212, ECS 228 and the EES 226, in order to fulfil the needs of the edge service operations as provided by the system 100. The functional entities (i.e. EES 226, EAS 224 and ECS 228) of the application layer 102 depicted in the architecture 200 enable various edge applications. These capability exposure functions, as described above, enable edge applications.

[0094] Lifecycle Management (LCM)

[0095] Figure 3A illustrates the edge management layer 110 of the edge computing system 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. A management framework 300A shown in Figure 3A includes a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) management system 302, and a ECSP Management System (ECMS) 322. The PLMN represents the physical infrastructure of the network, including cell towers and network equipment operated by a mobile network operator (PLMN Operator 304) to enable phone calls, data, and other mobile services over the core network 212, including the edge computing services. In an embodiment, the various capability exposure entities as described in conjunction with figure 2 in the preceding paragraphs, are managed as instances of Information Object Classes (IOCs) by the ECMS 322, embodied as Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). Figure 3A depicts a core VNF 306, associated with the PLMN management system 302.

[0096] The ECMS 322 enables both ECSP 326 and ASP 324 in the application layer 102 of the system 100. Therefore, the ECMS 322 orchestrates and manages one or more EDN 222 network functions, such as EAS 224, EES 226, and ECS 228, embodied as VNFs. These include EAS VNF 328, EES VNF 330, and ECS VNF 332.

[0097] The PLMN management system 302, provides management services (as shown), enabling the ECMS 322, to interconnect the EDN 222 network functions with core network functions. Both the ECMS 322 and the PLMN management system 302 communicate with a Network Functions Virtualization - Management and Orchestration (NFV-MANO) 340 to perform Lifecycle Management (LCM) functions of the EDN 222 network functions.

[0098] LCM functions (of the ECMS 322) enable the ASP 324 or ECSP 326 to deploy network functions, such as EAS VNF 328, EES VNF 330, and ECS VNF 332 in edge computing system 100 and a network thereof, according to service deployment requirements, or terminate such network functions when no longer required.

[0099] A provisioning MnS producer is used to support LCM. A provisioning MnS consumer, such as the ASP 324 or the ECSP 326, invokes a provisioning MnS producer, by requesting the ECMS 322 (acting as a provisioning MnS producer) to perform LCM functions. The provisioning MnS producer also interacts with NFV-MANO 340 to instantiate or terminate one or more VNF instance(s).

[0100] The LCM functions include instantiation, termination, modification and query of one or more edge components. Exemplary description is provided in the upcoming paragraphs of selected aspects of LCM of EAS VNF 328 as described below:

[0101] EAS Deployment:This enables ASP 324 to deploy the EAS 224 in the EDN 222, by requesting the provisioning MnS producer with the deployment requirements (e.g. the topological or geographical service areas, software image information, Quality of Service (QoS), affinity / anti-affinity with other EAS, etc.), to deploy the EAS 224. The provisioning MnS producer returns a response indicating the deployment operation is in progress, in order to prevent the provisioning MnS consumer from waiting, as the deployment in the edge may take a while. In an embodiment, there can be multiple EDNs 222 present in / serving a particular edge location. This makes it critical for ASP 324 to have their EAS 224 deployed at appropriate EDN(s) 222 to provide high performance services for the UE 202.

[0102] Therefore, the provisioning MnS producer analyses the deployment requirements to determine where (i.e. on which EDN 222) and how many EAS 224 instance(s) should be instantiated, and in an embodiment, requests the NFV-MANO 340 to instantiate the EAS instance(s). The provisioning MnS producer (i.e., the ECMS 322) sends a notification to ASP 324 indicating the result of instantiation, i.e., one of success and failure, when a response is received from NFV-MANO 340 indicating the result of instantiation operation.

[0103] EAS Termination:This enables ASP 324 to terminate the EAS 224 in the EDN 222, by requesting the provisioning MnS producer to terminate the EAS VNF 328 instance. The provisioning MnS producer, in an embodiment, requests the NFV-MANO 340 to terminate the EAS instances. The provisioning MnS producer (i.e., the ECMS 322) sends a notification to ASP 324 indicating the termination is in progress when a response is received from NFV-MANO 340 indicating the start of termination operation. The provisioning MnS producer sends another notification to ASP 324 indicating the result of termination i.e., one of a success and failure, when a response is received from NFV-MANO 340 indicating the result of termination operation.

[0104] Query EAS Information:This enables ASP 324 (i.e., the provisioning MnS consumer) to query the EAS information in the EDN 222, by requesting the provisioning MnS producer to query the EAS instance, i.e., the EAS VNF 328. Upon receiving the query request, the provisioning MnS producer sends the EAS instance information to ASP 324.

[0105] EAS Modification:This enables ASP 324 to modify the EAS 224 in the EDN 222, by requesting the provisioning MnS producer to modify the EAS instance, i.e., EAS VNF 328. If the modification requires a change in the virtualized resource of the EAS VNF 328 instance, the provisioning MnS producer requests the NFV-MANO 340 for the appropriate operation of the EAS instances. The provisioning MnS producer, i.e., the ECMS 322 sends a notification to ASP 324 indicating one or more attribute(s) of the instance of the EAS function 328 being changed / modified / updated.

[0106] Figure 3B depicts a block diagram of a system 300B for implementing an Application Service Provider 324 (i.e., a provisioning MnS consumer), in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 3C depicts a block diagram of a system 300C for implementing an Edge Computing Service Provider Management System 322 (i.e., a provisioning MnS producer), in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0107] In an embodiment, the system 300B may comprise a processor 3242, a memory 3244, an Input / Output (I / O) interface 3246, and a transceiver 3248. It may be noted that, in some embodiments, the system 300B may include more or fewer components than those depicted herein. The various components of the system 300B may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Further, the various components of the system 300B may be operatively coupled with each other. More specifically, various components of the system 300B may be capable of communicating with each other using communication channel media (such as buses, interconnects, and the like).

[0108] In one embodiment, the processor 3242 may comprise at least one data processor. The processor 3242 may include specialized processing units such as integrated system (bus) controllers, memory management control units, floating point units, graphics processing units, digital signal processing units, etc., or various other processing devices including, a microcontroller unit (MCU), a hardware accelerator, a special-purpose computer chip, or the like.

[0109] The processor 3242 may be disposed in communication with the I / O interface 3246. The I / O interface 3246 may employ various communication protocols / methods. Using the I / O interface 3246, the processor 3242 may be configured to communicate with the transceiver 3248, which is configured to receive and transmit data / signals from the system 300B. In an embodiment, the I / O interface 3246 is configured to send and receive one or more messages relating to the management of the EAS VNF 328, via one or more means including but not limited to software applications and hardware implementations. Exemplary embodiments are provided in the following description.

[0110] The processor 3242 may be disposed in communication with the memory 3244 (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc.). In an embodiment, the memory 3244 is capable of storing machine executable instructions, which may be in the form of software programs and database components, as required for performing the task of managing the EAS VNF 328. The processor 3242 is embodied as an executor of the instructions stored in the memory 3244. As such, the processor 3242 is capable of executing the instructions stored in the memory 3244 to perform one or more operations to manage the EAS VNF 328.

[0111] In an embodiment, the system 300C may comprise a processor 3222, a memory 3224, an Input / Output (I / O) interface 3226, and a transceiver 3228. It may be noted that, in some embodiments, the system 300C may include more or fewer components than those depicted herein. The various components of the system 300C may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Further, the various components of the system 300C may be operatively coupled with each other. More specifically, various components of the system 300C may be capable of communicating with each other using communication channel media (such as buses, interconnects, and the like).

[0112] In one embodiment, the processor 3222 may comprise at least one data processor. The processor 3222 may include specialized processing units such as integrated system (bus) controllers, memory management control units, floating point units, graphics processing units, digital signal processing units, etc., or various other processing devices including, a microcontroller unit (MCU), a hardware accelerator, a special-purpose computer chip, or the like.

[0113] The processor 3222 may be disposed in communication with the I / O interface 3226. The I / O interface 3226 may employ various communication protocols / methods. Using the I / O interface 3226, the processor 3222 may be configured to communicate with the transceiver 3228, which is configured to receive and transmit data / signals from the system 300C. In an embodiment, the I / O interface 3226 is configured to send and receive one or more messages relating to the management of the EAS VNF 328, via one or more means including but not limited to software applications and hardware implementations. Exemplary embodiments are provided in the following description.

[0114] The processor 3222 may be disposed in communication with the memory 3224 (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc.). In an embodiment, the memory 3224 is capable of storing machine executable instructions, which may be in the form of software programs and database components, as required for performing the task of managing the EAS VNF 328. The processor 3222 is embodied as an executor of the instructions stored in the memory 3224. As such, the processor 3222 is capable of executing the instructions stored in the memory 3224 to perform one or more operations to manage the EAS VNF 328.

[0115] From the above description, it will be clear to a person skilled in the art that since one or more applications are enabled through the EAS 224 network function, at the management layer 110 described in figure 3A above, it would be more convenient to manage one or more EAS instances together.

[0116] Group EAS Management - Bundling

[0117] The bundling of EASs in the application layer 102 of the edge computing system 100 was introduced in 3GPP TS 23.558. However, the Management layer 110 functionalities for enabling the EAS bundling are required in order to implement the same.

[0118] As per the available description, the bundle EAS comprises two scenarios: a direct bundle, and a proxy bundle. Both types of bundles may be provided by the ASP 324.

[0119] a. Direct bundling of EASs 224: In this scenario, the AC 204 interacts with multiple EASs 224, so that the AC 204 can obtain services from the multiple EAS. Therefore, the AC 204 processes data from the multiple EASs 224 and performs one or more actions based on the data obtained from the multiple EASs 224.

[0120] b. Proxy bundle EAS: In this scenario, the AC 204 interacts with only one representative EAS 224 (also referred to as a main EAS) of the EAS bundle. The main EAS interacts with other EASs. The main EAS processes the data from other EASs and performs one or more actions based on the data obtained from other EASs. The main EAS then provides the result to the AC 204.

[0121] Provisioning EAS 224 bundling by an appropriate management system allows grouping available EASs 224 in one bundle, in order to enable faster management of the EASs 224, improving a quality of experience and quality of service. A typical AC 204 usually communicates with multiple EASs 224.

[0122] As an exemplary scenario, consider an online game where, in order to support large number of users, different game functions are split across multiple EASs 224. These may include as EASs: a game engine for game state and user input management; an in-game chat server for communication between players; and a capture server for capturing rendered images, encoding, and transporting the images to the UE 202. If each of these EASs 224 are discovered, controlled, and relocated individually, it may impact the overall quality of service. Thus, the requirement of EAS bundling is evident.

[0123] All authorized ASPs 324 have the EAS discovery mechanism available. An ASP 324 may request an appropriate management system, such as the ECMS 322, to bundle any of the available EASs 224 (EAS VNF 328). However, it is a possibility that a particular EAS 224 should not be bundled with another EAS 224 due to internal ASP 324 or ECMS 322 policy.

[0124] Continuing the above exemplary scenario, an ASP 324 of a chat server may have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to allow bundling with a first game server EAS, but may not have agreement to allow bundling with a second game server EAS. In such a scenario, the ECMS 322 requires a capability to disallow a particular EAS 224 to be part of any or some of the available bundles, discovered by the ASP 324. Thus, the requirement for a method to manage the EASs 224 through bundling is required.

[0125] The EAS 224 bundle functionality, as provided for the application layer 102 of the edge computing system 100 (described above) is required to be supported by the ECMS 322 in the management layer 110, in order to have an end-to-end workable bundled EAS 224 functionality. The management provisions as defined in the 3GPP technical specifications do not support management of EAS bundle functionality.

[0126] For the purposes of this description, certain LCM procedures related to one or more network functions in the EDN 222 are described in the following paragraphs as shown in figure 4. Figure 4 illustrates an Edge Network Resource Model (NRM) 400 fragment as per the present disclosure, between the one or more network functions of the application layer 102. As described above, the various network functions are managed as instances of Information Object Classes (IOCs) in the management layer 110, and the Edge NRM 400 depicts the same as such. Each IOC in the edge NRM 400 represents the properties of the corresponding network function.

[0127] The SubNetwork IOC 402 represents the edge location, as defined in 3GPP TS 28.622. One or more EdgeDataNetwork IOCs 404 (hereinafter referred to as EDN IOC) are associated with the SubNetwork IOC 402. As depicted and described in figure 2, one or more EASFunction IOC 406 (hereinafter referred to as EAS function / application function instance) and EESFunction IOC 410 (hereinafter referred to as EES function / enabling function instance) are associated with an EDN IOC 404. The EASRequirements IOC 408 (hereinafter referred to as EAS requirements), directly associated with the EES function 410, represents the requirements needed to deploy EAS(s) and the information of EAS(s) deployment process. The edge NRM 400 provides an EASBundle IOC 412 (hereinafter referred to as EAS bundle / application bundle instance). Each IOC is defined and enabled by the values of one or more attributes associated with the respective IOC.

[0128] One or more attributes associated with the various IOCs described above, in relation to bundling one or more EAS functions, are provided below, as per an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0129] In an embodiment, the attributes associated with the EAS function 406 are:

[0130] Attribute nameSupport QualifierisReadableisWritableisInvariantisNotifyableeASIdentifierMTTFTeASAddressOTTFTeESAddressOTTFTregistrationInfoOTTFTrelocationTriggerInfoMTTFTrelocationRejectByASPMTTFTeASBundleInfoCMTTFTeASRequirementsRefMTTFTeASBundleRefCMTFFT

[0131] Table 4 - Attributes of EAS Function IOC

[0132] In an embodiment, the attributes eASBundleInfo and eASBundleRef are defined as follows:

[0133] Attribute nameisWritableDescriptionPropertieseASBundleInfoTThis defines the bundle relation information for the EASN.A> isBundlingAllowedTThis defines whether the EAS should be put in a bundle. The FALSE value indicates that this EAS shall not be part of any bundle.type:Booleanmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue:TrueisNullable: False> allowedBundleTThis defines the EAS bundles where this EAS can be placed. This will only be present if the value of attribute isBundlingAllowed is TRUE.type:DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeASBundleRefFThis indicates the EAS bundles in which the EAS is included.type:DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: False

[0134] Table 5 - eASBundleInfo and eASBundleRef Attributes of EAS Function IOC

[0135] In an embodiment, the attributes associated with the EES Function 410 are:

[0136] Attribute nameSupport QualifierisReadableisWritableisInvariantisNotifyableeESIdentifierMTTFTeESServingLocationMTTFTeESAddressMTTFTsoftwareImageInfoMTTFTserviceContinuitySupportMTTFTregistrationInfoMTTFTeASFunctionRefMTTFTeASBundleRefCMTTFT

[0137] Table 6 - Attributes of EES Function IOC

[0138] In an embodiment, the attribute eASBundleRef is defined as follows:

[0139] Attribute nameisWritableDescriptionPropertieseASBundleRefFThis indicates the related EAS bundles with the EES.type:DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: False

[0140] Table 7 - eASBundleRef Attribute of EES Function IOC

[0141] In an embodiment, the attributes associated with the EAS bundle 412 are:

[0142] Attribute nameSisReadableisWritableisInvariantisNotifyablebundleIdentifierMTFFTbundledEASIdentifierOTTFTbundleTypeMTTFTmainEASIdentifierOTTFTcoordinatedEASDiscoveryOTTFTcoordinatedACROTTFTeDNAffinityOTTFTeASFunctionRefOTFFTeESFunctionRefOTFFTeASRequirementsRefOTTFT

[0143] Table 8 - Attributes of EAS Bundle IOC

[0144] In an embodiment, the attributes associated with the EAS Bundle 412 are defined as follows:

[0145] Attribute nameisWritableDescriptionPropertiesbundleIdentifierFIdentifier of the bundle.Type:Stringmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsebundledEASIdentifierTList of EAS identifier associated with the EAS bundle.Type:Stringmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsebundleTypeTType of the EAS bundle.Type:Stringmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsemainEASIdentifierTIndicate which EAS in a bundle takes the main EAS service role.Type:Stringmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalsecoordinatedEASDiscoveryTIndicates if coordinated EAS discovery is required i.e., if EAS discovery request for one of the bundled EAS is processed, then EAS discovery response should include information of all the EASs belonging to the bundle.Type:Booleanmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: FalseisNullable: FalsecoordinatedACRTIndicates if coordinated ACR is required i.e., if EAS ACR is initiated for one of the bundled EAS, then ACR should be initiated for all the EASs belonging to the bundle.The IE may further indicate what actions must be taken if ACR for one or more bundled EAS fails e.g. ACR for all other EAS that are part of the bundle must be cancelled or not.Type: Booleanmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeDNAffinityTIndicates the affinity requirement of the EAS bundle. The IE can be set to "strong" indicating that the EASs must be in the same EDN, "preferred" indicating that it is nice to have EASs in the same EDN but not essential or "weak" indicating that it's not essential for EASs to be in the same EDN.Allowed Values: "STRONG", "WEAK", "PREFERRED"type: ENUMmultiplicity: 1isOrdered: N / AisUnique: N / AdefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeASFunctionRefFThis indicates the constituent EAS of the EAS bundle.Type: DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeESFunctionRefFThis indicate the related EES with the EAS bundletype: DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: FalseeASRequirementsRefTThis indicate the requirements for each constituent EAS in the bundle.Type: DNmultiplicity: *isOrdered: FalseisUnique: TruedefaultValue: NoneisNullable: False

[0146] Table 9 - Attributes of EAS Bundle

[0147] In an embodiment, the attribute eASBundleInfo (or EAS bundle information) defined above in table 2, represents an information associated with the EAS Bundle. In an embodiment, the attribute EAS bundle information provides information pertaining to EAS bundle type, a list of EASIDs or an EAS bundle ID. The EAS bundle information may also include main EASID and EAS bundle requirements. EAS bundle ID establishes an association between the EASs. When included in the EAS profile, EAS bundle ID denotes the bundle to which the EAS belongs. When included in the AC profile, the EAS bundle ID is used to perform different Edge Enabler Layer operations, such as EAS discovery.

[0148] In an embodiment, EAS bundle ID and EAS bundle requirements of the EAS bundle information attribute are provided by the ASP 324.

[0149] In an embodiment, the ASP 324 is a provisioning MnS consumer, and the ECMS 322 is a provisioning MnS producer.

[0150] In an embodiment, the attributes of the EAS function 406 and the EAS bundle 412 are utilized by the ASP 324 to determine if an EAS function 406 is compatible with a EAS bundle 412, for bundling in the EAS bundle 412.

[0151] In an embodiment, a bundle affinity (EDN Affinity) attribute of the EAS bundle 412 indicates a preference of an EAS bundle 412 to bundle one or more EAS functions 406, based on the EDN IOC 404 with which the EAS function 406 is associated. In an embodiment, the EDN affinity attribute may comprise an Information Elements (IE). In an embodiment, the IE may be set as one of: Strong, Preferred, and Weak. In an embodiment, the IE being set as Strong indicates that the EAS bundle 412 mandatorily comprises one or more EAS functions 406 corresponding to the same EDN IOC 404. In an embodiment, the IE being set as Preferred indicates that the EAS bundle 412 is allowed to comprise EAS functions 406 from one or more EDN IOCs 404. In another embodiment, the IE being set as preferred indicates that there is a preference of the EAS bundle 412 to include EAS functions 406 from the same EDN IOC 404, however, EAS functions 406 from other EDN IOCs 404 may also be included in the EAS bundle 412. In an embodiment, the IE being set as Weak indicates that an EAS bundle 412 may include any EAS function 406. In an embodiment, the IE being set as Weak indicates that the inclusion of the EAS function 406 in the same EDN IOC 404 is non-essential.

[0152] In an embodiment, the attributes associated with the EAS Bundle 412 further comprise a bundle identifier attribute (bundleIdentifier), a bundled EAS identifier attribute (bundledEASIdentifier), an EAS reference attribute (eASFunctionRef), an EAS requirement attribute (eASRequirementsRef), and an EES (also referred to as enabling function) identifier attribute (eESFunctionRef). The characteristics associated with these attributes is provided in table 6 above.

[0153] Managing of IOCs is defined in the 3GPP TS 28.532. As per this specification, a IOC is an entity, which may be accessed through an open interface between two or more systems, and representing a network resource for the purpose of management. The MOI is an instance of a Instance Object Class (IOC), as defined in a Management Information Base (MIB). A MIB is the same as a NRM, as depicted in figure 4 regarding the present disclosure. The 3GPPP TS 28.622 and 28.541 define edge related NRMs as a collection of IOCs, inclusive of their associations, attributes and operations, representing a set of network resources under management. An instance of an IOC is created resulting in a Managed Object Instance (MOI), which is managed through a generic provisioning Management Service (MnS), which is defined in 3GPP TS 28.532. MOIs may be modified, created, terminated, and generally managed by sending appropriate messages to a management system. In an embodiment, the ASP 324 sends one or more messages to ECMS 322 for managing the EAS VNF 328, i.e., the EAS function 406. One or more aspects of the management of the EAS function 406 by the ASP 324, in relation to the present disclosure are:

[0154] a. Before ASP 324 can configure EAS 224 with the bundle requirements, it may need to discover the available EAS bundles 412, with ECMS 322.

[0155] b. Once the ASP 324 discovers the available EAS 224 bundles, it should be able to trigger the LCM of EAS 224 bundle. This includes creating, updating and terminating an EAS 224 bundle.

[0156] In an embodiment, the ASP 324 firstly determines whether to use an EAS bundle 412, to manage the EAS function 406, based on one or more attributes of the EAS function 406.

[0157] Based on a determination by the ASP 324 that the EAS function 406 is not to be grouped in any EAS bundle 412, the ASP 324 modifies one or more attributes of the EAS function 406 by sending one or more MOI-messages to the ECMS 322. In an embodiment, one or more internal policies associated with the application function instance, such as Service Level Agreements (SLAs), may indicate that the application function instance is not to be included in any application bundle instance.

[0158] In an embodiment, based on a determination that the EAS function 406 is not to be grouped with any EAS bundle 412, the ASP 324 may modify one or more attributes of the EAS function 406 such that the EAS function 406 is not considered for grouping by any other ASP 324.

[0159] Based on a determination by the ASP 324 that the EAS function 406 is to be grouped in an EAS bundle 412, the ASP 324 sends a request to the ECMS 322 to obtain information of available EAS bundles 412. In an embodiment, based on the response, the ASP 324 detects one or more available EAS bundles 412.

[0160] In an embodiment, based on the detection, the ASP 324 determines whether to update a detected existing EAS bundle 412, or to create a new EAS bundle 412, or to not use any of the detected EAS bundles 412.

[0161] Figures 5, 6, and 7 described below are sequence diagrams, providing an elaboration of the above-mentioned embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of the following description of the sequence, the ASP 324 has been referred to as a provisioning MnS consumer, and the ECMS 322 has been referred to as a provisioning MnS producer, as per the embodiment of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the EAS function 406 has been referred to as an application function instance. Additionally, the EAS bundle 412 has been referred to as an application bundle instance.

[0162] Figure 5 depicts a sequence flow diagram 500 for bundling an application function, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.Figure 5 relates to the provisioning MnS consumer 524 updating an application bundle instance for managing an application function instance, through the provisioning MnS producer 522. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 is the ASP 324, and the provisioning MnS producer 522 in the ECMS 322. In an embodiment, the steps of the sequence flow diagram 500 may be performed by the processor 3242 of the system 300B implementing the provisioning MnS consumer 524, and the processor 3222 of the system 300C implementing the provisioning MnS producer 522.

[0163] At step 502, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 determines if an application function instance is to be included in an application bundle instance, based on one or more attributes of the application function instance. In an embodiment, the one or more attributes of the application function instance includes the bundle information (EASbundleInfo) attribute.

[0164] At step 504, based on a determination at step 502 to include the application function instance in the application bundle instance, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 522, to obtain from the provisioning MnS producer 522 information regarding available application bundle instances. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a getMOIAttributes (EASBundle) request.

[0165] At step 506, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 receives a response from the provisioning MnS producer 522 regarding the available application bundle instances. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a getMOIAttributes (EASBundle) response. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 detects one or more available application bundle instance based on the response received from the provisioning MnS producer 522.

[0166] At step 508, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 determines that at least one of the detected application bundle instances is compatible with the application function instance, for bundling the application function instance. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 determines to update at least one detected application bundle instance, in order to group, and thereby manage the application function instance.

[0167] Based on the determination at step 508, at step 510, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 522, to create application requirements IOC (EAS Requirements 408), corresponding to each of one or more other application function instances to be grouped in the at least one detected application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a createMOI (EASRequirements) request. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS producer 522 instantiates one or more application requirements IOC, and application function instances based on the MOI-message sent by the provisioning MnS consumer 524.

[0168] At step 512, the provisioning MnS producer 522 deploys the instantiated application function instances. In an embodiment, the deployment of the application function instances follows the EAS Deployment LCM function.

[0169] At step 514, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 receives a response from the provisioning MnS producer 522 indicating a success of the deployment of the instantiated application function instances.

[0170] Based on the response received at step 514, at step 516, the provisioning MnS consumer 524 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 522, to update the at least one detected application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a ModifyMOIAttributes (EASBundle) request. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 524, through the MOI-message, updates a value of one or more attributes associated with at least one of the at least one detected application bundle instance and the application function instance. In an embodiment, the one or more attributes associated with the at least one detected application bundle instance being updated include at least one of the bundledEASIdentifier, the eASFunctionRef, and the eESFunctionRef attributes.

[0171] Based on a successful updating of the one or more attributes of the application bundle instance by the provisioning MnS producer 522 at step 516, the provisioning MnS producer 522 sends a response MOI-message to the provisioning MnS consumer 524, indicating a modification success. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a ModifyMOIAttributes (EASBundle) response.

[0172] In an embodiment, by updating the application bundle instance to include the application function instance, the application function instance is managed as per the requirements of the provisioning MnS consumer, by the provisioning MnS producer, through the application bundle instance.

[0173] Figure 6 depicts a sequence flow diagram 600 for bundling an application function, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.Figure 6 relates to the provisioning MnS consumer 624 creating an application bundle instance for managing an application function instance, through the provisioning MnS producer 622. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 is the ASP 324, and the provisioning MnS producer 622 in the ECMS 322. In an embodiment, the steps of the sequence flow diagram 600 may be performed by the processor 3242 of the system 300B implementing the provisioning MnS consumer 624 and the processor 3222 of the system 300C implementing the provisioning MnS producer 622.

[0174] At step 602, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 determines if an application function instance is to be included in an application bundle instance, based on one or more attributes of the application function instance. In an embodiment, the one or more attributes of the application function instance includes the bundle information (EASbundleInfo) attribute.

[0175] At step 604, based on a determination at step 602 to include the application function instance in the application bundle instance, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 622, to obtain from the provisioning MnS producer 622 information regarding available application bundle instances. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a getMOIAttributes (EASBundle) request.

[0176] At step 606, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 receives a response from the provisioning MnS producer 622 regarding the available application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the response being a MOI-message is a getMOIAttributes (EASBundle) response. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 detects one or more available application bundle instance based on the response received from the provisioning MnS producer 622.

[0177] At step 608, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 determines that none of the detected application bundle instances is compatible with the application function instance, for bundling the application function instance. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 determines to create a new application bundle instance, in order to group, and thereby manage the application function instance.

[0178] Based on the determination at step 608, at step 610, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 622, to create application requirements IOC (EAS Requirements 408), corresponding to each of one or more other application function instances to be grouped in the new application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a createMOI (EASRequirements) request. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS producer 622 instantiates one or more application requirements IOC, and application function instances based on the MOI-message sent by the provisioning MnS consumer 624.

[0179] At step 612, the provisioning MnS producer 622 deploys the instantiated application function instances. In an embodiment, the deployment of the application function instances follows the EAS Deployment LCM function.

[0180] At step 614, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 receives a response from the provisioning MnS producer 622 indicating a success of the deployment of the instantiated application function instances.

[0181] Based on the response received at step 614, at step 616, the provisioning MnS consumer 624 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 622, to create a new application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a CreateMOI (EASBundle) request. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 624, through the MOI-message, creates a new application bundle instance with values of one or more attributes associated with the created application bundle instance to be compatible with one or more attributes of the application function instance.

[0182] At step 618, the provisioning MnS producer 622 instantiates the new created application bundle instance.

[0183] Based on a successful instantiation of the one or more attributes of the application bundle instance by the provisioning MnS producer 622 at step 618, the provisioning MnS producer 622 sends a response MOI-message to the provisioning MnS consumer 624, indicating a instantiation success. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a CreateMOI (EASBundle) response.

[0184] In an embodiment, by creating the new application bundle instance to include the application function instance, the application function instance is managed as per the requirements of the provisioning MnS consumer, by the provisioning MnS producer, through the created application bundle instance.

[0185] Figure 7 depicts a sequence flow diagram 700 for bundling an application function, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.Figure 7 relates to the provisioning MnS consumer 724 determining not to utilize an application bundle instance for managing an application function instance. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 is the ASP 324, and the provisioning MnS producer 722 in the ECMS 322. In an embodiment, the steps of the sequence flow diagram 700 may be performed by the processor 3242 of the system 300B implementing the provisioning MnS consumer 724 and the processor 3222 of the system 300C implementing the provisioning MnS producer 722

[0186] At step 702, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 determines if an application function instance is to be included in an application bundle instance, based on one or more attributes of the application function instance. In an embodiment, the one or more attributes of the application function instance includes the bundle information (EASbundleInfo) attribute.

[0187] At step 704, based on a determination at step 702 to include the application function instance in the application bundle instance, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 722, to obtain from the provisioning MnS producer 722 information regarding available application bundle instances. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is a getMOIAttributes (EASBundle) request.

[0188] At step 706, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 receives a response from the provisioning MnS producer 722 regarding the available application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the response being a MOI-message is a getMOIAttributes (EASBundle) response. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 is configured to detect one or more available application bundle instances based on the response received from the provisioning MnS producer 722, for bundling the application function instance.

[0189] At step 708, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 determines not to use any application bundle instance for bundling the application function instance. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 may determine that the application function instance may not be bundled in any of the detected one or more application bundle instances, due to internal policies of the ASP 324. In yet another embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 may determine that the application function instance may not be bundled in any application bundle instance due to one or more parameters associated with the AC 204, EAS 224, or the core network 212.

[0190] Based on the determination at step 708, at step 710, the provisioning MnS producer 722 deploys the application function instance. In an embodiment, the deployment of the application function instance follows the EAS Deployment LCM function.

[0191] At step 712, the provisioning MnS consumer 724 sends a MOI-message to the provisioning MnS producer 722, to modify one or more attributes associated with the application function instance, based on the deployment. In an embodiment, the MOI-message is an ModifyMOIAttributes (EASFunction) request. In an embodiment, the one or more attributes of the application function instance include the application bundle information (eASBundleInfo) and the application bundle reference attribute (eASBundleRef).

[0192] At step 714, the provisioning MnS producer 722 sends a response to the provisioning MnS consumer 724, indicating a successful modification of the one or more attributes of the application function instance.

[0193] In an embodiment, by not utilizing any application bundle instance for managing the application function instance, the application function instance is managed as per the requirements of the provisioning MnS consumer, by the provisioning MnS producer, through LCM functions associated with the application function instance.

[0194] Figure 8 illustrates a method 800 for managing an application function instance, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the method describes one or more steps taken by a provisioning MnS consumer to manage an application function instance.

[0195] At step 802, the provisioning MnS consumer 324 sends a request to the provisioning MnS producer 322 to obtain information of available application bundle instances, for grouping an application function instance.

[0196] At step 804, based on a response from the provisioning MnS producer 322 at step 802, the provisioning MnS consumer 324 detects one or more application bundle instances for grouping the application function instance.

[0197] At step 806, the provisioning MnS consumer 324 determines if any of the detected one or more application bundle instances is compatible with the application function instance for bundling the application function instance. In an embodiment, this determination is based on one or more attributes of the application function instance, and one or more attributes of the detected one or more application bundle instances.

[0198] At step 808, based on the determination at step 806, the provisioning MnS consumer 324 performs one of, updating an existing detected application bundle instance to group the application function instance, and creating a new application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the provisioning MnS consumer 324 sends one or more messages to the provisioning MnS producer 322 for managing the application function instance for updating an existing application bundle instance or creating a new application bundle instance.

[0199] The provisioning MnS consumer, i.e., the ASP 324 is therefore enabled to bundle one or more EASs 224, for managing the one or more EASs 224, for providing services to the AC 204. This allows for faster and seamless communication between the various entities of the edge application layer 102, as shown in figure 2.

[0200] The description above also allows grouping of several EASs 224 providing different services, to form a new service. This also enables to re-use existing services, avoiding deployment of duplicate services in the edge computing system100.

[0201] The description above may also enable providing a typical AC 204 communicating with multiple EASs 224 to provide better service to the end user, utilizing the UE 202. This ensure a better QoS.

[0202] Figure 9 is an exemplary block diagramillustration of an exemplary computer system 900 for implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the computer system 900 may be used to implement the systems 300B, 300C as shown in Figures 3B and 3C. Thus, the computer system 900 may be used to implement one of the ASP 324 and the ECMS 322, in conjunction with a processor 904, and manage at least one of an application function instance and an application bundle instance. In an embodiment, the computer system 900 may be the ASP 324 (provisioning MnS consumer), configured to communicate with a provisioning MnS producer in order to manage an application function instance, through bundling in an application bundle instance. In another embodiment, the computer system 900 may be the ECMS 322 (provisioning MnS producer), configured to communicate with a provisioning MnS consumer in order to manage an application function instance, through bundling in an application bundle instance The computer system 900 may comprise a Central Processing Unit 904 (also referred as "CPU" or "processor"). The processor 904 may comprise at least one data processor. The processor 904 may include specialized processing units such as integrated system (bus) controllers, memory management control units, floating point units, graphics processing units, digital signal processing units, etc. In an embodiment, the processor 904 is the same as the processors 3242 and 3222, shown in Figures 3B and 3C respectively.

[0203] The processor 904 may be disposed in communication with one or more input / output (I / O) devices 920, 909 via I / O interface 902. The I / O interface 902 may employ communication protocols / methods such as, without limitation, audio, analog, digital, monoaural, RCA, stereo, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) -594, serial bus, universal serial bus (USB), infrared, PS / 2, BNC, coaxial, component, composite, digital visual interface (DVI), high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), Radio Frequency (RF) antennas, S-Video, VGA, IEEE 1016.n / b / g / n / x, Bluetooth, cellular (e.g., code-division multiple access (CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA+), global system for mobile communications (GSM), long-term evolution (LTE), WiMAX, or the like), etc.

[0204] Using the I / O interface 902, the computer system 900 may communicate with one or more I / O devices. For example, the input device 920 may be an antenna, keyboard, mouse, joystick, (infrared) remote control, camera, card reader, fax machine, dongle, biometric reader, microphone, touch screen, touchpad, trackball, stylus, scanner, storage device, transceiver, video device / source, etc. The output device 909 may be a printer, fax machine, video display (e.g., cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode (LED), plasma, Plasma display panel (PDP), Organic light-emitting diode display (OLED) or the like), audio speaker, etc.

[0205] The processor 904 may be disposed in communication with the communication network 918 via a network interface 906. In an embodiment, the network interface 906 is the transceivers 3248 and 3228, as shown in figures 3B and 3C respectively. The network interface 906 may communicate with the communication network 918. The network interface 906 may employ connection protocols including, without limitation, direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., twisted pair 10 / 100 / 1000 Base T), transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), token ring, IEEE 1016.11a / b / g / n / x, etc. The communication network 918 may include, without limitation, a direct interconnection, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), wireless network (e.g., using Wireless Application Protocol), the Internet, etc. The network interface 906 may employ connection protocols include, but not limited to, direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., twisted pair 10 / 100 / 1000 Base T), transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), token ring, IEEE 1016.11a / b / g / n / x, etc.

[0206] The communication network 918 connects the computer system 900 to an exemplary device 930. In an embodiment, the exemplary device 930 may be one of the systems 300B and 300C, as described. The communication network 918 includes, but is not limited to, a direct interconnection, an e-commerce network, a peer to peer (P2P) network, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), wireless network (e.g., using Wireless Application Protocol), the Internet, Wi-Fi, and such. The communication network 918 may use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), etc. Further, the communication network 918 may include a variety of network devices, including routers, bridges, servers, computing devices, storage devices, etc.

[0207] In some embodiments, the processor 904 may be disposed in communication with a memory 910 (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc. not shown in Figure 9) via a storage interface 908. The storage interface 908 may connect to memory 910 including, without limitation, memory drives, removable disc drives, etc., employing connection protocols such as serial advanced technology attachment (SATA), Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE), IEEE-594, Universal Serial Bus (USB), fiber channel, Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), etc. The memory drives may further include a drum, magnetic disc drive, magneto-optical drive, optical drive, Redundant Array of Independent Discs (RAID), solid-state memory devices, solid-state drives, etc.

[0208] The memory 910 may store a collection of program or database components, including, without limitation, user interface 912, an operating system 914, web browser 916 etc. In an embodiment, the memory 910 is analogous to the memories 3244 and 3224 as described in Figures 3B and 3C respectively. In an embodiment, one or more internal policies and values of one or more attributes of, the application function instance and the application bundle instance, is stored in the memory 910. Such databases may be implemented as fault-tolerant, relational, scalable, secure databases such as Oracle ® or Sybase®.

[0209] The operating system 914 may facilitate resource management and operation of the computer system 900. Examples of operating systems include, without limitation, APPLE MACINTOSHROS X, UNIXR, UNIX-like system distributions (E.G., BERKELEY SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTIONTM(BSD), FREEBSDTM, NETBSDTM, OPENBSDTM, etc.), LINUX DISTRIBUTIONSTM(E.G., RED HATTM, UBUNTUTM, KUBUNTUTM, etc.), IBMTMOS / 2, MICROSOFTTMWINDOWSTM(XPTM, VISTATM / 7 / 8, 10 etc.), APPLERIOSTM, GOOGLERANDROIDTM, BLACKBERRYROS, or the like.

[0210] In some embodiments, the computer system 900may implement the web browser 916stored program component. The web browser 916may be a hypertext viewing application, for example MICROSOFTRINTERNET EXPLORERTM, GOOGLERCHROMETM0, MOZILLARFIREFOXTM, APPLERSAFARITM, etc. Secure web browsing may be provided using Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTPS), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), etc. Web browser 916may utilize facilities such as AJAXTM, DHTMLTM, ADOBERFLASHTM, JAVASCRIPTTM, JAVATM, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), etc. In some embodiments, the computer system 900may implement a mail server (not shown in Figure) stored program component. The mail server may be an Internet mail server such as Microsoft Exchange, or the like. The mail server may utilize facilities such as ASPTM, ACTIVEXTM, ANSITMC++ / C#, MICROSOFTR, .NETTM, CGI SCRIPTSTM, JAVATM, JAVASCRIPTTM, PERLTM, PHPTM, PYTHONTM, WEBOBJECTSTM, etc. The mail server may utilize communication protocols such as Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), MICROSOFTRexchange, Post Office Protocol (POP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), or the like. In some embodiments, the computer system 900may implement a mail client stored program component. The mail client (not shown in Figure) may be a mail viewing application, such as APPLERMAILTM, MICROSOFTRENTOURAGETM, MICROSOFTROUTLOOKTM, MOZILLARTHUNDERBIRDTM, etc.

[0211] In an embodiment, at least one of the computer system 900 and the device 930 is configured to perform the functions of the provisioning MnS consumer. When the computer system 900 is acting as the provisioning MnS consumer, the device 930 acts as the provisioning MnS producer, and vice versa.

[0212] A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the disclosure.

[0213] When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device / article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device / article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device / article may be used in place of the more than one device or article, or a different number of devices / articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices. The functionality and / or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality / features. Thus, other embodiments of the disclosure need not include the device itself.

[0214] A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure enables LCM of EAS bundle function of the edge computing system.

[0215] Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the disclosure be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the disclosure is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the disclosure, which is set forth in the following claims.

[0216] The specific examples provided to explain the embodiments according to the present disclosure are merely a combination of each standard, method, detail method, and operation, and the various embodiments described herein can be performed through a combination of at least two or more techniques among the various techniques described. In addition, at this time, it can be performed according to a method determined through a combination of one or at least two or more of the aforementioned techniques. For example, it may be possible to perform a combination of parts of the operation of one embodiment with parts of the operation of another embodiment.

[0217] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

1.A method performed by a management service (MnS) consumer, the method comprising:determining to use edge application server (EAS) bundle functionality;transmitting, to an MnS producer, a request for a retrieval of attribute information associated with a managed object instance (MOI), to read an EAS bundle MOI; anddetermining to use an existing bundle or create a new bundle, based on the EAS bundle MOI.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute information associated with the EAS bundle MOI comprises at least one of:an identifier of EAS bundle,a list of EAS identifier associated with the EAS bundle,a type of the EAS bundle,information indicating which EAS in the EAS bundle takes a main EAS service role,information indicating if coordinated EAS discovery is required,information indicating if coordinated application context relocation (ACR) is required,information indicating an affinity requirement of the EAS bundle,information indicating a constituent EAS of the EAS bundle,information indicating a related edge enabler server (EES) with the EAS bundle, orinformation indicating a requirement for each constituent EAS in the EAS bundle.3.The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining whether an EAS is part of any or some of a bundle; andtransmitting, to the MnS producer, a first modification request for one or more attributes of MOI associated with an EAS function, based on whether the EAS is part of any or some of the bundle.4.The method of claim 3, wherein the EAS function includes an EAS bundle information attribute and attribute indicating the bundle in which the EAS is included.5.The method of claim 4, wherein the EAS bundle information attribute includes attribute defining whether bundling of the EAS is allowed.6.The method of claim 1, wherein in case of the determining to use the existing bundle, further comprising:transmitting, to the MnS producer, a second modification request for one or more attributes associated with the existing bundle.7.A management service (MnS) consumer, comprising:a transceiver;a memory storing instructions; andat least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory and configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to cause the MnS consumer to:determine to use edge application server (EAS) bundle functionality;transmit, to an MnS producer, a request for a retrieval of attribute information associated with a managed object instance (MOI), to read an EAS bundle MOI; anddetermine to use an existing bundle or create a new bundle, based on the EAS bundle MOI.8.The MnS consumer of claim 7, wherein the attribute information associated with the EAS bundle MOI comprises at least one of:an identifier of EAS bundle,a list of EAS identifier associated with the EAS bundle,a type of the EAS bundle,information indicating which EAS in the EAS bundle takes a main EAS service role,information indicating if coordinated EAS discovery is required,information indicating if coordinated application context relocation (ACR) is required,information indicating an affinity requirement of the EAS bundle,information indicating a constituent EAS of the EAS bundle,information indicating a related edge enabler server (EES) with the EAS bundle, orinformation indicating a requirement for each constituent EAS in the EAS bundle.9.The MnS consumer of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to cause the MnS consumer to:determine whether an EAS is part of any or some of a bundle; andtransmit, to the MnS producer, a first modification request for one or more attributes of MOI associated with an EAS function, based on whether the EAS is part of any or some of the bundle.10.The MnS consumer of claim 9, wherein the EAS function includes an EAS bundle information attribute and attribute indicating the bundle in which the EAS is included.11.The MnS consumer of claim 10, wherein the EAS bundle information attribute includes attribute defining whether bundling of the EAS is allowed.12.The MnS consumer of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to cause the MnS consumer to transmit, to the MnS producer, a second modification request for one or more attributes associated with the existing bundle.13.A non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a management service (MnS) consumer, cause the MnS consumer to perform operations, the operations comprising:determining to use edge application server (EAS) bundle functionality;transmitting, to an MnS producer, a request for a retrieval of attribute information associated with a managed object instance (MOI), to read an EAS bundle MOI; anddetermining to use an existing bundle or create a new bundle, based on the EAS bundle MOI.14.The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the attribute information associated with the EAS bundle MOI comprises at least one of:an identifier of EAS bundle,a list of EAS identifier associated with the EAS bundle,a type of the EAS bundle,information indicating which EAS in the EAS bundle takes a main EAS service role,information indicating if coordinated EAS discovery is required,information indicating if coordinated application context relocation (ACR) is required,information indicating an affinity requirement of the EAS bundle,information indicating a constituent EAS of the EAS bundle,information indicating a related edge enabler server (EES) with the EAS bundle, orinformation indicating a requirement for each constituent EAS in the EAS bundle.15.The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:determining whether an EAS is part of any or some of a bundle; andtransmitting, to the MnS producer, a first modification request for one or more attributes of MOI associated with an EAS function, based on whether the EAS is part of any or some of the bundle.

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